


The Princess and the Dancer

by WotanAnubis



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, F/F, Fluff, Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-10 06:01:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12292812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WotanAnubis/pseuds/WotanAnubis
Summary: In which Kimberly briefly sees a young woman who will change her life forever.





	The Princess and the Dancer

**Author's Note:**

> Going for something a bit different. More fairy tale, less ordinary fanfic if that makes sense. Trying something new. By which I mean, something old.

**Once Upon A Time...**

**In A Land Far, Far Away...**

There lived a princess named Kimberly the Pink. She was beautiful and beloved and all the realm wished her nothing but happiness. She wore the most gorgeous, elaborate gowns, all in pink because that was her favourite colour. Her large bed had pink sheets and pink pillows and pink drapes. Her room had pink curtains through which the sunlight fell in to illuminate her marble-and-obsidian chess set, her many gold and quartz necklaces and rings and bracelets. Portraits of her lined the halls of the castle, each one painted by some of the finest artists in all the realm.

And above all else, she was to marry Prince Jason the Red. The kingdom of Princess Kimberly, though wealthy and powerful, was still young among all the realms. Whereas the kingdom of Prince Jason was old and prestigious, and yet had been in sad decline for generations. It was the wonderful match, all agreed. The beautiful and wealthy Princess Kimberly and the proud and noble Prince Jason. A more perfect union could not be imagined. And so the Kings of both kingdoms arranged the happy marriage between Princess Kimberly and Prince Jason.

The day of the wedding soon approached and the father of Princess Kimberly the Pink threw extravagant feast in celebration of this union between the kingdoms and the marriage of these two young people who would doubtlessly make each other supremely happy.

Jesters there were, and jugglers. Fire-eaters and lion tamers. Poets and actors and singers. There was no end to the entertainment, and Princess Kimberly the Pink watched each and every act intently, never once sparing a glance for a her new husband.

And then there came the dancer. She was a wanderer, she'd said. She had come from far, she'd said, to see this couple that was so obviously destined to be together. And to dance for them, of course, to celebrate their abundant happiness.

Her dance was like nothing Princess Kimberly had ever seen. She wore audacious, almost immodest, yellow silks and her body moved with a wild abandon totally unknown to the stately dances of the royal courts. The dancer held swords in both hands and that gleaming steel somehow seemed to fit her dance. She moved in a whirlwind of steel and silk, her bare feet flashing across the stone floor, her body overflowing with passion.

Princess Kimberly could not keep her eyes off of the strange dancer. Off the whirling silk or flashing steel. Off the provocative way her body moved in defiance of all that was considered decent or expected.

Most of all, Princess Kimberly could not help but notice the dancer's eyes. They were dark and fiery. They jeered silently at the assembled nobles who did not know what to make of her. And whenever they fell upon Princess Kimberly they filled with pity. And perhaps...

And then the dance was over and the dancer in yellow was gone. And Princess Kimberly was left all alone in the great hall surrounded by nobles, her father and mother and her new husband.

Night fell. Princess Kimberly the Pink and Prince Jason the Red found themselves in Princess Kimberly's bedroom, now _their_ bedroom. And Princess Kimberly did not know what to do. She knew what was expected, and that everyone expected it.

And Prince Jason spoke and told her this was all a mistake. He'd never wanted to marry her. But he was trapped, same as her. The noble Prince and the beautiful Princess. There was only one way that story ever went and it didn't care that Prince Jason and Princess Kimberly didn't feel like playing along.

Princess Kimberly slept in her pink bed that night. Prince Jason slept on the floor on a pile of Princess Kimberly's softest pink dresses.

And so it went, day after day. Princess Kimberly found in Prince Jason and decent soul and kind confident, but she never could love him as a wife in the same he couldn't love her as a husband. She drifted through the castle, wandering from cold stone corridor to cold stone corridor. Nothing gave her pleasure any more. Not her gowns, not her jewelry, not chess, not her paintings.

Nothing but the memory of the strange dancer in yellow.

Every time Princess Kimberly closed her eyes she could see the wild young woman and every time her longing for the curious wanderer grew stronger. She ached for her and didn't even know why.

In the end, it all became too much for her and she sent out Zack the Black, the finest scout in the kingdom and one of her most trusted servants. Zack left without delay, promising Princess Kimberly to find the strange dancer and bring her back to her.

Days passed without word. Princess Kimberly grew ever more frantic and distracted. She barely ate or slept. All she did was stare out the window at the drawbridge and the road, willing Zack to return and bring the dancer with him.

And then, at last, Zack did return. But without the dancer. Princess Kimberly wanted to know what had happened, how he had failed. Zack told her that he hadn't been able to find the dancer. Princess Kimberly pressed for more details, demanded to know if Zack truly had done everything he could to bring the dancer to her. Zack told her he hadn't been able to find her.

Only later did it strike Princess Kimberly how odd Zack's replies had been. She'd known Zack of old and had always been impressed by his fancy stories. He could make even the most dismal failure sound like a grand epic worthy of all the gods. But at the time all she could think of was the dancer in yellow and how she wasn't here with her.

Princess Kimberly next went to Billy the Blue, Prince Jason's eccentric court wizard. He knew many things, even though he couldn't always explain them, and had many strange powers and devices, which he could explain but not in any way that ever made sense to anyone.

Princess Kimberly ordered the wizard to look into his crystal ball or black mirror or whatever it was he did and find the dancer in yellow for her. The wizard Billy agreed quite amiably to her demands and immediately set to work. He did have a crystal ball and peered at it intently. He had a strange deck of cards, which he looked at and frowned. He burned strange herbs and sat in the smoke and spoke in a strange and foreign tongue.

And Billy the Blue told Princess Kimberly that he could not find the dancer. Princess Kimberly exploded at him. He was the finest mage in all the realm, chosen by Prince Jason the Red himself! And he could not find one simple dancer? How could that be? Was she some witch perhaps? Some ephemeral spirit sent to haunt her dreams? Some goddess who had come to mock her hollowness?

Billy the Blue had no more answers and Princess Kimberly left unsatisfied.

Prince Jason noticed his wife's distress. How could he not? Princess Kimberly was distracted and irritable and spoke of nothing but the dancer in yellow. How beautiful she was. How wild she'd seemed, and how free. Of the elegance of her silk and the danger of the swords. Princess Kimberly slept much those days, either to escape the painful emptiness in her life or to dream of the strange dancer who had captivated her so.

In the end, Prince Jason gathered up all his troops, good and loyal men and woman all, and sent them forth into the kingdom. He told them to search every city, every village, every hovel. Climb every mountain, sail every sea, explore every forest. They were to do whatever they could to find the dancer in yellow and bring her back to his wife so she might find some peace.

The troops set out and, as instructed, they searched every city and every village and every hovel. The climbed every mountain and sailed every sea. All in search for one person.

Weeks later, one by one, the soldiers came back. They all had amazing stories. Of the sight they'd seen, the heights they'd conquered, the pirates they'd fought. But none of them had any stories about the dancer. Except one. One soldier had a story about the dancer in yellow and told Prince Jason. But Prince Jason did not tell Princess Kimberly.

At last Princess Kimberly the Pink had had enough. Scouts could not find her dancer. Wizards could not find her dancer. Soldiers could not find her dancer. Well, then she would find her herself. She had lived in the castle of her father all her life. She had never even seen the world outside its stone walls. She did not care. She would find her dancer, no matter how long it took.

Hours after she left the castle, trekking determinedly past endless farmland, Princess Kimberly arrived in a small village. Her feet ached terribly from walking the uneven road in shoes not up to the task. She did not care. The wide open world was all around her and her dancer in yellow as out there somewhere.

Or here somewhere. Princess Kimberly came across a decrepit wooden wall covered in posters. Some were wanted posters, other were advertisements for some product or other, but most were announcements of traveling entertainers visiting the village. And the dancer in yellow was among them, the eyes and her drawn face as dark and fiery as Princess Kimberly remembered them.

Princess Kimberly frantically asked around about the dancer. Oh yes, the people told her, she'd been around for _months_. Camping out in the forest. Strange girl, dances like a wild animal or something. Keeps telling people she's waiting for someone.

Princess Kimberly ran into the forest at once, her painful feet instantly forgotten. She spotted a brief wisp of smoke in the distance and ran wildly towards it. And there she was. The dancer of her dreams. Sitting in a clearing next to a small fire. Not in yellow silks as Princess Kimberly remembered, but the rough hides and leather of traveler. One sword she held sheathed at her side, the other was bare across her legs.

Princess Kimberly stood frozen on the spot. She had found the dancer who had consumed her so. She didn't know what to do next. Or say next. She couldn't even greet her. She didn't even know her name.

The dancer spoke first and told Princess Kimberly she'd been waiting for her.

And Princess Kimberly asked if Zack the Black, her trusted scout had found her.

And the dancer told her that Zack had found her.

Princess Kimberly asked if Billy the Blue's magic had found her.

The dancer frowned and said that some weeks back some of her charms did break all of a sudden.

Princess Kimberly asked if Prince Jason's troops had found her.

The dancer replied that, yes, one soldier had found her.

And Princess Kimberly asked why. Why, then, had they all told her they'd failed? Why had the dancer not come to her?

And the dancer asked what Princess Kimberly would have done with her. Locked her up behind her stone walls? Force her into the role of some court entertainer? Twist her so that she fit into a world that didn't suit either of them?

Princess Kimberly had to admit the dancer was right. She would have made her dance for her and it would have been meaningless. So then what, she asked. What should she do instead?

And the dancer smiled and drew her other sword.

Princess Kimberly the Pink was never seen again.

Shortly thereafter, all throughout the kingdom and all throughout the world, excited new stories sprung. Two dancers, one in yellow, one in pink, each carrying a single sword, would show up in some place or other and perform. Their dance would dazzle everyone, astonish some into silence, move others to tears. There was no dance more stunning, everyone agreed. Nothing that could ever hope to be so wild or so passionate or so free.

And the dancers?

They never watched their audiences. They only ever had eyes for one another.

**Author's Note:**

>  
> 
> _"Aren't fairy tales supposed to end with 'And They Lived Happily Ever After'?" Trini asked._
> 
>  
> 
> _"I think it did," Kimberly replied._  
> 


End file.
